MINI- 4K ULTRA HD REVIEW / HDR FRAME SHOTS
(1) Jack Foley (George Clooney), Glenn Michaels (Steve Zahn), and Buddy Bragg (Ving Rhames) plan a heist from inside the Lompoc Federal Prison in Calif. (2) Foley breaks out of the Glades Federal Prison in Florida, and he and U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) end up in the trunk of her car. (3) Foley and Bragg are holding up in a South Beach motel in Miami.
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“OUT OF SIGHT”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray, 1998, R for language and some strong violence
Best extra: Commentary with director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Frank
FOR MOST of a decade director Steven Soderbergh had been relegated to small forgettable art-house films – except for his provocative debut “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” (1989), which launched the indie-filmmaking scene of the 1990s.
Then Universal Studios head Casey Silver wanted Soderbergh to helm an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s bestselling crime novel “Out of Sight.” Handsome George Clooney would play professional bank robber Jack Foley and up-and-coming actress, Jennifer Lopez, as U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco.
The chemistry between Clooney and Lopez is undeniable, evident during their “infamous” trunk scene, which was originally filmed as a single shot. After 45 tries and a test screening, Soderbergh reshot the scene with intended edits. “These two have the kind of unforced fun in their scenes that reminds you of Bogart and Bacall,” said critic Roger Ebert in his original review for the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Out of Sight” ended up receiving two Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay by Scott Frank and Best Editing by Anne V. Coates.
(1) After Foley’s escape from the Glades Prison Glenn Michaels meets with a new car. (2) Clooney was attached to the film before Soderbergh signed on. (3) Michael Keaton reprises his character of Ray Nicolette from “Jackie Brown” (1997) and did it for free. (4) The South Beach scene features excellent 4K clarity with distant buildings and signs. (5) The Kronk Recreation Center in Detriot was a perfect location for the boxing training center.
VIDEO
This striking 4K restoration is clearly one of Kino’s best, sourced from a 4K scan of the original 35mm spherical camera negative (1.85:1 aspect ratio) and mastered in true 4K. Every shot features terrific clarity from Soderbergh’s nicely framed closes ups providing detailed facial and costume textures, while the wide shots are clear and crisp from the foreground to distant buildings and readable signs. Natural film grain dances across the screen as it should, with no signs of grain reduction, while the 4K disc features super-high video bitrate numbers coded onto a 100-gigabit disc.
The larger your screen size the greater difference you’ll see between the 2160p disc vs. 1080p disc – especially if your viewing distance is between 1 and 1.5x times the diagonal width of your screen. For example, 60-inch 4K TV you should be seated between 5 to 7.5 feet away.
Cinematographer Elliot Davis supervised the 4K/HDR grading and SDR grading for the new 1080p disc. The color fidelity is perfect with natural flesh tones and saturated colors from the warm hues of South Florida to the cool palette of Detroit. The 4K presentation is slightly darker with more controlled highlights and mid-tones while the shadows are deep and dark while holding detail.
AUDIO
The 4K disc and Blu-ray include the same audio coding with the 5.1 DTS-HD soundtrack and a lossless 2.0, which features Irish composer David Holmes’ inventive first movie score. It’s full of electronic jazzy funk and electronica and he describes it as “a combination of “Dirty Harry” and “The Rockford Files.”
The surround speakers get plenty of action during the gun blasts, but overall, this is mostly a front-staged dialogued soundtrack.
(1) The bed scene was filmed on a set with a fake city background, but the lights didn’t flicker as planned and were digitally added at a cost of $100,000. (2) Snoopy Miller (Don Cheadle) and former boxer Kenneth (Isaiah Washington) prepare to break into Richard Ripley’s safe. (3) Karen Sisco arrives at Ripley’s house and calls for backup. (4) Sisco has a long trip back to South Florida with a couple of prisoners.
Thank you!